ISRO Study: More Ice Discovered on Moon at Depths Suitable for Exploration
GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 2nd May. Recent studies conducted by scientists from the Space Applications Centre (SAC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), in collaboration with researchers from IIT Kanpur, University of Southern California, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, have unveiled promising findings regarding the presence of water ice in the polar craters of the Moon.
According to ISRO, the research indicates a significant likelihood of water ice occurrence within the polar craters, particularly at exploitable depths. The study suggests that the amount of subsurface ice within the first couple of meters is estimated to be five to eight times greater than the ice present on the surface in both polar regions.
Drilling into the lunar surface to access and sample this ice is deemed crucial for future missions and establishing long-term human presence on the Moon, ISRO emphasized.
Furthermore, the study highlights that the extent of water ice in the northern polar region is approximately double that found in the southern polar region. The origin of this ice is attributed to outgassing during volcanism in the Imbrian period, as per the study’s findings.
The distribution of water ice is believed to be influenced by “Mare volcanism” and preferential impact cratering, the research suggests.
Accurate knowledge of the distribution and depth of water ice occurrence is crucial for identifying future landing and sampling sites for missions aimed at exploring lunar volatiles, ISRO stated.
These findings complement a previous study by SAC, ISRO, which hinted at the possibility of water ice presence in polar craters, utilizing data from the Chandrayaan-2 Dual-frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar instrument. The comprehensive understanding provided by this study supports ISRO’s future plans for in-situ volatile exploration on the Moon.
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